Tot Satellite Internet

[wayned]

Does anybody have experience with TOT satellite internet. I live in a very remote area and have complained continuously about their internet connection over the past 7 years that they are going to install their satellite internet for the same charge. Am I jumping from the frying pan into the fire?

[RKASA]

I am not sure what you mean they are going to install for the same charge - what do you have now?

My install was free but had to use it for min. of one year. Has been the only thing I can use for 7 years on now. My IpStar is 512k/256k, 2400B a month. With high ping (1100-1800) it will download at about 300k most the time but viewing content on the web (youtube etc) does not work. If you use Fire Fox with adblock you can surf web pages fairly well. Mainly I download program files and use a mail center and banking etc.

My https when banking is about dail up speed - 50-60k always slow - and I cannot upload attachments in email. The ToT connection causes the smtp server to time out. The email program and gmail accounts work fine if I take my laptop to other then a ToT IpStar connection and the attachments won't work if I open the account with a browser on line ether - only short 50k or less text messages or it fails if I am on IpStar. Also my banking is not a problem if done other then IpStar.

I first got this to use a fax connection with the telephone set that came with it. but during that whole first year I paid the extra 108 baht for it - I was only able to get one dropped call that came in and never made a single call out - it never worked and they could never fix it and I bugged them for a year - finally took the voip set in and left it on the managers desk and walked out. What we really need is a phone company and a few real professionals.

Nothing has changed in 7 years.

[Gary A]

I used Crapstar for a number of years until CAT EVDO became available. The service from two different Crapstar providers was pathetic.

At this point CAT EVDO is equally or maybe worse than Crapstar. The past couple of months, the service has deteriorated even more badly. Last week EVDO was down completely for two days and now when it does work, it is VERY slow. On rare occasions, it does work very well but those occasions are getting fewer and further between.

The only other option I have is EDGE. Dtac is normally a little better than AIS but both are pretty slow. If I hadn't paid 10,000 baht for the CAT modem, I'd quit the service but rumor has it that CAT will exchange the modem for a 3G modem. If that doesn't happen I will quit and use EDGE. And I'm not really holding my breath waiting for 3G.

[wayned]

Thanks for all of the "exciting" news about satellite internet. I spoke to TOT again, them very limited English-me shitty Thai, they say that what they want to install is not direct satellite link but a microwave link with a transmitter installed somewhere on their trunck line which I assume must be line of sight. Anybody hear of this?

[Gary A]

Thanks for all of the "exciting" news about satellite internet. I spoke to TOT again, them very limited English-me shitty Thai, they say that what they want to install is not direct satellite link but a microwave link with a transmitter installed somewhere on their trunck line which I assume must be line of sight. Anybody hear of this?

I'd be skeptical of anything they told me. The best advice they ever gave me was that if I'm not satisfied with the service to just discontinue it. I quite promptly told them to stop the service and to come and pick up their junk. They then told me that they couldn't stop it in the middle of a billing cycle. It then took them two months to pick up the equipment. The pick up only happened after my wife called them and told them that I was going to use the dish for a bird bath.

[gvpraag]

I have TOT satellite internet for about six years. I have the most expensive package: 2,800 bath/month for 1Mbps download- and 512Kbps upload speed. I can be short about upload: the maximum was never reached, but that does not bother me much.

I had problems with the download speed and had to call Bangkok all the time. They react very friendly and they reset the connection and after that everything is fine for a couple of weeks. After that I had to call again and so on and so on.

THE LAST SIX MONTH however they seem to have solved the problem and the download speed is exactly what I pay for.

In case one has no normal telephone line, this is really an acceptable solution and the price is not to bad.

I live in the Phitsanulok area and I have experimented with 3G. Speed is spectacular (compared with my satellite) but there is always a certain maximum of 5G to 8G after which the speed will be cut to 400Kbps. I consume that limit within a week !!. Extra 1MB of data at high speed will cost about 2 bath. Downloading a 1GB movie at high speed, after you consumed your limit, will cost you about 2,000 bath !!!! The whole 3G setup is (in my opinion) not meant for serious internet with a PC. In this market segment they can never compete with ADSL speeds, facilities and prices. The mobile market is what they are aiming at.

But in case you are not much of a downloader you can surf the internet fairly good with a 400kbps 3G connection. The 'ping' is about 10 times faster than the satellite connection, so you experience your overall surfing as just as fast as with the 1Mbps satellite package. The price however will be only about 30%.

[Pib]

Good post...and yea, you can bet all 3G service providers have done tons of research into how much bandwidth to provide per month in the basic plan cost before slowing down the speed and/or upping the cost per additional megabytes....guess they are hoping people will 3G themselves to "almost" going to the poor house....but wouldn't want them to go to the poor house as that would be lost future revenue.